Cricket has been a huge part of The British Asian Trust success story; with matches such as India vs. Pakistan in 2007, the British Asian Challenge at Lord’s in 2009. In July 2010 we will be following this up by bringing the Indian Premier League back to London for The British Asian Challenge at Lord’s. In a build up to July, cricket fans amongst our supporter base can follow their favourite teams in the Indian Premier League Season 3 on YouTube! All 60 matches of the IPL will be streamed live (and free) on youtube.com/ipl.

Acknowledging Google’s support, Chairman Manoj Badale said that ‘this was a new stage of development for the Trust as it builds its supporter base in the UK and increases awareness about effective philanthropy to high-impact charities in South Asia’.

Hosted by ‘EastEnders’ star Nitin Ganatra and ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Laila Rouass, the awards show recognised the contributions and achievements of the best in British Asian Sporting talent. Both hosts also signed up as Ambassadors of the British Asian Trust recognising the sustainable difference the Trust makes to the lives of over 300,000 people in South Asia and the UK.

The charity auction, hosted by Rajan Singh included tickets to the Indian Premier League Finals in Mumbai, Concert tickets to The Black Eyed Peas at the LG Arena, British Grand Prix tickets from Force India courtesy of the UK India Business Council and golf with celebrity cricketer Mark Ramprakash at Wentworth.

British Asian Trust Ambassador Nina Wadia represented the Trust and hosted a number of Friends and Patrons at the event along with Trustees Chris Mathias and Surinder Arora.

Boxing sensation Amir Khan along with England women’s cricketer – Isa Guha, Sri Lankan cricketer – Arjuna Ranatunga and Amit Bhatia – Vice-Chairman of QPR were amongst the winners at this biggest Asian sports awards in the country.

The evening also featured show-stopping performances from MOBO award-winning rapper, Chipmunk, popular girl band The Saturdays, international funk band, Heatwave and British Asian singer, Navin Kundra.

Other in attendance included Lord Bilimoria founder of Cobra Beer, BBC Presenter Mihir Bose, Pakistani cricketer Asif Iqbal, Olympic Gold Medallist Denise Lewis, ‘EastEnders’ actors Jonny Partridge and Himesh Patel and actor Colin Salmon.

The event will be broadcast globally on Sony Entertainment Television Asia in April 2010.

The Prince’s Charities is a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The Prince of Wales is President: 18 of the 20 charities were founded personally by The Prince. The group is the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the United Kingdom, raising over £100 million annually. The organisations are active across a broad range of areas including opportunity and enterprise, the built environment, responsible business, education and health. The charities reflect The Prince of Wales’s long-term and innovative perspective, and seek to address areas of previously unmet need.

The British Asian Trust is the only one of The Prince of Wales’s Charities that focuses mainly on supporting charities in South Asia. This is done by bridging the gap between British Asians and communities in need in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK.

Each of the Charities brought a group of their supporters and friends to the evening. The British Asian Trust supporters included James and Aisha Caan who joined Raj and Priyanka Gill, Karan and Monica Israni, Kishore and Manju Lulla, Arif and Fayeeza Naqvi, Alpesh Patel, Ramila Patel and Anoup Treon.

The evening was an excellent opportunity for Trustees to meet supporters and discuss the work of the Trust. In the last 12 months the Trust has committed nine grants and reached out to over 300,000 beneficiaries.

His Royal Highness had the opportunity to thank the supporters for their contribution to the group of The Prince’s Charities.

The evening was rounded off with a beautiful musical performance by Camilla Kerslake.

The British Asian Trust’s support to Developments in Literacy will enable the charity to upgrade the quality of education in its schools by improving the standard of training for over 600 rural teachers and capacity building of its programme staff. The Trust support comes at a time when DIL is at a crucial stage of its development and is looking forward to consolidate its activities on the ground.

Acknowledging the support by The British Asian Trust, Ahmereen Reza, Chairperson DIL Trust UK, thanked the Trust for their valuable contribution towards DIL’s effort as well as thanked Mr. Badale for such a unreserved endorsement of DIL’s work and its impact.

The event was the second gala and fundraiser organised by DIL Trust UK since its launch in 2007. The event was attended by prominent British Pakistanis, Pakistani professionals and businessmen residing in the United Kingdom including His Excellency Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Lord Hameed, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, Hassan Askari, Ashraf Ali Hameedi, Dr. Saadia Quraishy, Asif Rangoonwala, Naveed Riaz, Dr. Mian Sharif, Tahir Wahid, Kashif Zafar, DIL Trust’s UK Patron Baroness Sandip Verma and Mrs. Pinky Lillani, OBE and advisory board member and former Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi. Hitan Mehta and Rabia Nusrat from the Trust also attended the event.

The event was supported by Barclays Capital, Old Park Capital, Credit Suisse, Rangoonwala Trust, Habib Bank Ltd and United National Bank amongst others.

The event was a great success and over £170,000 was raised towards DIL Trust UK’s activities. These funds will enable them to meet its key goals for 2010, including vocational training efforts in Pakistan and Britain, expanding the charity’s teacher training efforts in Pakistan, and improving the curriculum for DIL Trust UK’s schools in Pakistan.

The British Asian Sports Awards is a unique event that offers a fantastic platform to showcase across the globe the immense sporting talent that exists within the Asian community in the UK. The event is attended by some of the biggest names in sport, music and television.

For further info please visit: www.basauk.tv

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The evening was aimed at the ‘next generation’ of business people and entrepreneurs who were considering philanthropic engagement in India and wanted to know more about NGOs on the ground. (more…)